My invention relates to a motor vehicle of the type having a chassis frame elongated in a fore and aft direction, a single front and a single rear wheel, and retractable outrigger wheels on opposite sides of the frame.
It is an object of my invention that the outrigger wheels or landing gear serve the following functions:
(a) Hold the vehicle upright when it is stopped or moving slowly. PA0 (b) Create a righting force to aid the vehicle driver in the transition from unbalanced to balanced driving. PA0 (c) Permit a maximum lean angle of about forty degrees either side of vertical for safe higher speed driving. PA0 (d) Permit restriction to a lesser lean angle, i.e., twenty-five degrees for around town and stop and go driving and driver training. PA0 (a) Variable ratio righting leverage. PA0 (b) Dividing righting action into two segments so that the driver can use two foot pedal strokes of his legs to fully right the vehicle from about a forty degree lean. PA0 (c) Providing a half-retracted outrigger wheel position for around-town and stop-and-go travel and driver training, which is achieved by one foot pedal stroke. PA0 (a) Automobile comfort and safety. PA0 (b) Driving enjoyment akin to that experienced with a motorcycle, economy, ease of maintenance, providing a vehicle qualifying for diamond lane privileges, providing a vehicle of lower ecological damage compared with other feasible vehicle alternatives. PA0 (a) To provide outrigger wheels replacing the rider's feet to hold the vehicle upright at stops and at low speed, the wheels to be retracted at other occasions. PA0 (b) To permit forty degrees or more vehicle lean to either side when the outrigger wheels are retracted. PA0 (c) To operate the outrigger wheels by reasonable foot pressure. PA0 (d) To permit about twenty-five degrees vehicle lean for around town and stop-and-go driving. PA0 (e) To provide a down lock for the outrigger wheels for parking. PA0 (f) To provide side steering for ease of driver entry into the vehicle and on leaving the vehicle, and to direct the steering linkage away from the driver during accidents. PA0 (h) Roll bar and other safety construction. PA0 (a) A leg-powered outrigger wheel system is substituted for the direct use of the driver's feet to touch the ground to balance the vehicle during low speeds and stops. PA0 (b) When a rider uses a motorcycle, he learns to position the motorcycle in a balanced condition as it sets into motion. My vehicle is operated somewhat differently in this regard. Leg power is still used but through foot pedals and mechanical advantage, in a two-stroke system. My vehicle could be driven in an dynamically unbalanced condition at any speed but it is desirable to transition to the balanced mode at 5-10 mph. The faster the vehicle is driven, the more leg power is required to correct the vehicle if it is in an undesirable disposition. PA0 (c) Seating the driver high in a motorcycle is disadvantageous compared to the low seating position in my vehicle. The lower position of the weight of the driver (in a vehicle in which his weight is a significant portion of overall vehicle/occupant weight) leads to more responsive handling and safety due to a lower center of gravity.
Prior vehicles of this type have lacked the ability to retract outrigger wheels far enough to allow for a vehicle lean angle of about forty degrees. An outrigger wheel retraction system which limits lean angle to only twenty degrees, for example, means the structure involved in the outrigger wheels, even when retracted, will strike the ground when the vehicle rounds turns at moderate speeds. An inspection of currently produced motorcycle and motor scooter products will demonstrate the ability to lean forty or more degrees to either side of vertical. This is a standard design feature, and for good reason.
A two-wheeled vehicle in motion, like a motorcycle, is dynamically balanced, and to turn a corner it will lean at an angle determined by the radius of the corner and the velocity of the vehicle, which will define a safe condition as long as tire adhesion to the road surface is maintained. While forty degrees lean is more lean than the average operator will plan to normally use, misjudgment of a corner's sharpness will require more lean on occasion to safely turn the corner than normally desired. This extra margin to lean (safety margin) must be designed into the vehicle. For this same reason automobiles are capable of rounding corners at far higher speeds than planned daily use requires. Emergency conditions and the unexpected may require a sharper than normally desired turn. If the maximum lean angle is much less than forty degrees, the vehicle has an unsafe turn radius limitation, which forces a wider turn than would be allowed with a greater lean angle. In an unexpected condition, if the lean angle is limited and a sharper turn is attempted than the vehicle maximum lean angle will allow, the vehicle will be forced into a wider turn, out of its intended lane of travel, and cross either into the adjacent lane or road shoulder depending on direction of the turn. Thus, the vehicle could be forced into a lane of oncoming traffic or off the road, both of which would involve unacceptable risk.
It is a further object of my invention to provide means to right the vehicle when stationary or moving slowly from as much as about a forty degree lean angle by force applied by the feet of the driver on pedals, within the normal levels of strength of grown people. The greater the lean angle, the greater the force required to right a vehicle.
It is an object of my invention to provide such means to right the vehicle with a mechanism having the following characteristics:
Further objectives include:
Automobile comfort is achieved by providing basically an automobile type seat and seating position, as contrasted to motorcycle seats and driving positions. It is an objective to provide glass and body screening such as may be found in a convertible, as opposed to the wind buffeting and noise found in a motorcycle. A heater can be provided.
Automobile safety can be enhanced by a seat belt and a shoulder harness, by a tubular steel cage and a roll cage, or by a comparable safe body construction. Use of a driving helmet is preferable. An air bag passive retraint also could be provided.
Motorcycle type ride enjoyment is created because operating the vehicle is like operating a very responsive motorcycle, with an exception that the feet never have to touch the pavement during use. Motorcycle economy is inherent in the small and efficient motorcycle-like motor, the vehicle's low weight, and the provision of low drag with the two wheels. Maintenance is easier due to fewer and less complicated parts. Small and efficient power plants burn less gas and create less emissions.
The technology exists to develop my vehicle. Although prior somewhat similar vehicles were proposed starting as early as about 1924, apparently full scale production has not been achieved. One difficulty may have been the failure to create a system for righting the vehicle within the strength capabilities of normal drivers. It is an objective of my invention to provide a two stroke mechanism to right the vehicle.
It is another objective of my invention:
Vehicle operating conditions are much like that of a motorcycle with certain exceptions:
My invention will be best understood, together with additional objectives and advantages thereof, from the following description, read with reference to the drawings, in which: